Nintendo Switch

[Chaos2Frozen]

Originally Posted by Solace

It's a completely different architecture, so no. But Nintendo will definitely port a good chunk of the library over, I'm sure.

Originally Posted by Tokkan

No, it uses carts. Wii U uses discs. It's also a single screen experience (Wii U is two screens) and we've yet see any confirmation of a touch screen.

The Mario Kart and Splatoon games on show in the first look appear to be enhanced versions of Mario Kart 8 and Splatoon Wii U, though. Switch Mario Kart has playable King Boo and 2-items (like in Double Dash) but is otherwise identical to 8, Switch Splatoon has a new map and new hairstyles for the squids (official Japanese Splatoon twitter account even brought attention to this).

I'll settle for digital backwards compatibility

[DragoonKain3]

Originally Posted by Kyral

Reading something like this still manages to confuse me, guess I'm old.

I know right? If you told me that Sonic of all things would be a Nintendo exlcusive in 20 years to my 1995 self, I would've thought you're off your rocker.

[Shadow5YA]

Originally Posted by Chaos2Frozen

My biggest question is whether it's backwards compatible

Only because I didn't get a Wii u

Confirmed no.

https://twitter.com/mochi_wsj/status/789423791063470080

Originally Posted by DragoonKain3

I know right? If you told me that Sonic of all things would be a Nintendo exlcusive in 20 years to my 1995 self, I would've thought you're off your rocker.

It's not necessarily exclusive. Their Sonic Project 2017 was confirmed for all platforms.

[Shadow5YA]

Originally Posted by Solace

Because of Christmas, and NDAs. It's not just Nintendo putting a gag order on its partners, but also those partners holding back secrets of their own. That's why the PR answers are so close in wording. Still, you see Bethesda and Rockstar games in the trailer....that's already a big shift from the Wii U. I'm honestly not worried about support.

That doesn't necessarily guarantee actual support. Bethesda may just be porting Skyrim for example instead of developing any new games for it.

[Solace]

Originally Posted by Shadow5YA

That doesn't necessarily guarantee actual support. Bethesda may just be porting Skyrim for example instead of developing any new games for it.

That's true, and I'm not believing anything because just signing on a sheet doesn't mean much. Every console launch is promoted by promises that never happen, unfortunately. Seriously, no one should expect Konami to do much.

What is more important is the list of middleware vendors on the bottom of that list, and what that means in combination with Nvidia's Tegra technology. People really underestimate how advanced mobile graphics have come:

YouTube

https://youtu.be/wAIgFHqkqHI

Sorry; dynamic content not loaded. Reload?

Skip to about 6 minutes to see a graphics demo, it's the Unreal Engine 4 demo. Keep in mind that is the Tegra X1, and that announcement was nearly two years ago. Tegra X2 is even more powerful, and we don't know exactly what Nintendo and Nvidia have done to the chip to "customize" it. Rumors suggest it's got Maxwell 2 or Pascal architecture.....which puts it just below Xbox One in power. That's an absolutely bonkers feat of engineering which was simply not possible five years ago.

This is all backed up by Nvidia handling the documentation and API side of development. This means a native development environment based of scaling architecture and graphics engines that nearly every developer works with on a daily basis. Most game development starts on PC, were Nvidia is dominant, and modern AMD and Nvidia chips share a lot in common, so porting isn't nearly as hard as it was to port modern engines to the old Power PC platform the Gamecube to Wii U generation used.

To sum up, third party support is now more about choice. Most of the technology and development barriers that hindered Wii and Wii U game creation simply no longer exist, because the Switch is now one of the most advanced pieces of gaming hardware on the planet.

[Shadow5YA]

Originally Posted by Chaos2Frozen

I'll settle for digital backwards compatibility

Chances are that's not happening, which is the reason why they're making enhanced ports for Splatoon, Zelda, and presumably Smash Bros. Those games were/will be the Wii U's biggest successes despite the console's failure, so they do not want them to die along with the Wii U.

While that is perfectly reasonable, it still does raise the question of how many completely new games are coming to the Switch at launch that won't be just enhanced ports.

The devil is in the details, and there are just too many factors we lack information on, like battery life, price point, launch lineup, confirmed in-development lineup, etc. The Switch has potential, but after how much the Wii U's failure hurt them, they are in a difficult position now and can't afford to mess this one up, lest they turn into Sega and become forced to downscale into third party status.

I still can't forget how bad Sonic Team's 25th anniversary stream was. Shaky camera, audio was either not working or buzzing... it's sad how low they have fallen

[DragoonKain3]

OUCH! Heard it only has 3 hours of battery life. As someone who loves things with loads of battery life, this is a deal breaker if indeed it is true (or at least, not a purchase until a game I really want comes out). Sometimes I just want to play RPGs while lying on my bed, and 3 hours is nothing when marathoning those games.

[GDB]

I'd need a source, since that seems obscenely short. If it's really that low they might as well just make a cheaper non-portable version because no one is going to use it as a portable like that.

*edit*

Looking around, it sounds like that's from the Dev Kit. Not sure I'd take that as indication of anything beyond the absolute minimum of the finished product, though.

[Shadow5YA]

I'm skeptical of being given only one number as an estimate for battery life anyway, since that can be interpreted in a variety of ways. Is it the maximum? The minimum? At what brightness settings? And what about a sleep mode?

And so on.

However, hardware specs and parts are something that must be finalized early on so they can begin mass production, so I wouldn't hold my breath for any significant improvements.

[GDB]

Things like processing power, sure. Battery life has absolutely no effect on game development, so it could be adjusted up until they start producing it.

[Kafriel]

I don't think 3H is so bad, it's enough for commuting or playing till noon/before bedtime...Unless we're not talking about maximum performance, in which case its actual battery life would be more like 80'.

[Shadow5YA]

Originally Posted by GDB

Things like processing power, sure. Battery life has absolutely no effect on game development, so it could be adjusted up until they start producing it.

Rumor has it that they have already begun production on it. And while it would not affect game development, it still does affect hardware production, since the battery/power source has to come with the console.

And changing the battery would not only affect production, but it would also affect the price of the console.

While I am skeptical of 3 hours for various reasons, whatever battery life the console has will not be changing to any significant degree.

Originally Posted by Kafriel

I don't think 3H is so bad, it's enough for commuting or playing till noon/before bedtime...Unless we're not talking about maximum performance, in which case its actual battery life would be more like 80'.

Three hours is absolutely unacceptable for a portable system, and it's definitely not enough for a commute in many cases. I've had times where I was stuck in city traffic and it takes me up to two hours for one way, making it up to four hours for a round trip commute.

Comparing it to currently existing handhelds makes it look worse, considering the N3DS XL is 3.5 - 7 hours, and the vita's battery life is 3-5 hours.

[Kafriel]

My phat PSP lasts an outstanding 8 hours with minimum sound (which is enough, unless in subway). I never recharge it on the same day, except when I play ad hoc games, since they drain the battery a whole lot faster.

I've had times where I was stuck in city traffic and it takes me up to two hours for one way, making it up to four hours for a round trip commute.

Getting traffic both in the morning and in the evening is rather rare for me (I may have experienced it twice), but in the event of being forced to put my handheld on sleep mode to preserve my game progress, I'd just switch out to music, e-books or mobile apps (yes, the lesser games). Still, if the 3h limit comes to pose a serious threat to Switch, I'm sure Nintendo would switch to better battery types and formations.

[VDZ]

What source do we have for the 3 hours? Nintendo was extremely dominant among early handhelds, and their focus on battery life was one of the biggest aspects of that - they consciously used less impressive hardware so they would have a long battery life, while their competitors had more technically impressive hardware but performed poorly partly due to lack of battery life. I would think Nintendo of all companies would understand the importance of battery life in handhelds.

[Shadow5YA]

Originally Posted by VDZ

What source do we have for the 3 hours? Nintendo was extremely dominant among early handhelds, and their focus on battery life was one of the biggest aspects of that - they consciously used less impressive hardware so they would have a long battery life, while their competitors had more technically impressive hardware but performed poorly partly due to lack of battery life. I would think Nintendo of all companies would understand the importance of battery life in handhelds.

The Switch isn't exactly a handheld though. It's a portable home console. The 3DS is still getting support, and there is no evidence at the moment to believe that the Switch is intended to replace it.

The only ones who believe it to be the 3DS's successor is us.

And the source on battery life:

http://letsplayvideogames.com/2016/1...orts-and-info/
https://twitter.com/LaurakBuzz/statu...rc=twsrc%5Etfw

Source A (Nintendo) described the Switch as having a “mediocre” battery life. Source B (Ubisoft) has said a maximum battery life of three hours.

Like I said, that still needs clarification, since there are a variety of factors like volume/brightness settings. It could be more, or it could be even less.

[Urzu 7]

I did read on neogaf that the battery life when portable is only about 3 hours. That is too bad if true, however, I also read on neogaf that The Nintendo Switch is, first and foremost, a video game console for use on a TV, it just happens to allow portable play. But primarily, Nintendo says it is about being used in the docking station on TVs.

So while it isn't too well for portable, think about what we have: A Nintendo console (that has portable play even if the battery life isn't good), and furthermore, now game development is no longer split between two platforms. This is pretty good.

[Sides]

Nowadays you see a lot of people carry around those powerbanks for their smartphones. So as along as the Switch allows itself to be charged up via USB, it should be fine.

[Kafriel]

Getting powerbanks is not an answer Nintendo can give, should anyone ask them why Switch has low battery life. Still, it is a hybrid system, so compromising its hardware in favor of extended life is also not an option.

I can't comment on whether it's good or not, because I haven't seen its capabilities yet (sure, we got a trailer, but can it maintain its fps on something like musou games, with thousands of units on screen? How well would cutscenes unfold in RPGs, how much mobility would be possible in an Armored Core game? etc.)...so, until I see one in action, I'll just wait for it.

[Sides]

The shield tablet (28nm kepler based) only last around 3-4h, if you play heavy 3d based games. So 3h isn't that bad, if it is true.
BTW those "in-game footage" were overlays, basically the screen were blank and footage were edited onto it.

[Shadow5YA]

Originally Posted by Urzu 7

I did read on neogaf that the battery life when portable is only about 3 hours. That is too bad if true, however, I also read on neogaf that The Nintendo Switch is, first and foremost, a video game console for use on a TV, it just happens to allow portable play. But primarily, Nintendo says it is about being used in the docking station on TVs.

Neogaf quoted from Emily Rogers (@ArcadeGirl64) and Laura Kale Dale (@laurakbuzz), both who got their only sources from Nintendo who only said it was "mediocre", and Ubisoft who said it was "3 hours".

That still lacks specifics. The N3DS for example is listed at 3.5 - 5.5 hours and the PSVita is listed at 3-5 hours. Technically you could say the Vita also has only 3 hours battery life as well, and it would be misleading.